Wednesday, 16 September 2015

Lyon wanderings (Mon 14th)

We start our day with catching the funicular (part of the Metro system) down the hill. The area we are staying is called Croix Rousse and is on top of quite a steep hill. It has a feeling of being its own village, a bit distinct from the rest of Lyon. The funicular is underground and is like a cross between a tram and a train. We are so impressed with the public transport in this city of 1.4million people.

Today's area to explore is the Pres'quile, the main administration area that sits on land between the two big rivers the Soane and the Rhone. Here we find more fabulous old buildings and much architecture to
remind you that you are in France. Main difference here to what is often found
in Paris is that Lyon buildings often don’t have the shutters. The reason being
that many of the buildings used to house the silk production and so buildings
were built with many windows or larger windows without shutters as they workers
needed all the light they could get to make the silk.

We wandered along boulevards and down back streets
and little alley ways, it was all very interesting. We found one of the murals
that Lyon has become renown for. We had a small disaster when Jackie tripped on
uneven paving and fell with camera in hand. Luckily she only suffered a few
scraps on the ankle, and although the camera is a bit dented and the auto lens
cap wont close properly now, it is actually still working.

Today we decided to go light as far as lunch was
concerned and so found a café that did toasted open sandwiches, which are
called Tartines… and even they were rather special.

Having eaten we headed off to one of the main
shopping areas, but did not find much to inspire. We huddled under an awning to
escape a rather heavy downfall, finally escaping to buy an umbrella (after
which the rain stopped of course!).

Our main afternoon activity was the Museum of Fine
Arts. It was a pretty good collection ranging from Egyptian antiquities to much
early Renaissance art, through to a small but good collection of
Impressionists and later.

Then it was home, and a more reasonable dinner of
potatoes, beans and salad… time to give the stomach a rest…we think!